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The purpose of this document is to outline the District of Columbia’s (D.C. or the District) plan for providing assistance to families with children using funds provided under Title I of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 (Pub. L. No. 104-193), and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Final Rules published in the Federal Register on April 12, 1999. The Act amends Section 402 of the Social Security Act to require that states submit a plan to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) that outlines how the state will provide TANF benefits.

The District uses federal, MOE/Separate State Program, and Solely State Funded (SSF) funds to operate a cash assistance program and provide supportive services for families with children through the District’s TANF program. The District does not commingle funding streams. The local legal authority for this program is the District of Columbia Public Assistance Act of 1982 (D.C. Law § 4-101; D.C. Official Code § 4-201.01, et seq.), as amended. The provisions of this Plan are effective October 1, 2023. The District’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program provides cash assistance to eligible families with a suite of services to facilitate their path to success. These services include access to resources that can be bundled together to meet the family’s individual needs. The District employs a Two-Generation (2Gen) Approach to reaching and serving families so children and parents can rise together.

SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2016, the District of Columbia (D.C.) Department of Human Services (DHS) revised its TANF Employment & Education Program (TEP) to better align with the growing national trend of incorporating a multi-generational (2Gen) approach to serving TANF customers and their families. DHS has since integrated the six (6) nationally recognized pillars of this 2 Gen approach (Economic Assets, Social Capital, Health, including Mental Health, Post-Secondary and Employment Pathways, and Early Childhood Education,